JOAN WILLIAMS
Problem
You dismissed Joan and have reflected upon the questions on the previous page. This is probably how you should have answered each one.
To remind you, the five questions were:
- Would your action cause any problems with the rest of the team in the department?
- Were you responding to Joan’s feelings correctly?
- Were you demonstrating in your actions that you didn’t know what else to do with Joan?
- Is there nothing else you’d like to know about Joan?
- Do you feel that you were following the correct dismissal procedure?
1 It is highly likely that your actions would have an effect on the remaining members of your team in terms of productivity and morale. Bad rumours spread much faster around an organisation than good ones, and your reputation could suffer, especially if the Board want to look for future talent to feed their pipeline for jobs further up the career ladder.
Yes
No
Not Sure
2 You might not have demonstrated any emotional intelligence through your responses, choices, and actions, and now perhaps you feel that you could have done better. At least, we hope that you feel you could.
Yes
No
Not Sure
3 You’ve as good as washed your hands of Joan and her problems, which simply demonstrated to her (and to the rest of your team) that you didn’t care. It is really hard to motivate a team to produce good results or meet targets when they feel their team leader doesn’t care about them.
Yes
No
Not Sure
4 There was plenty to still find out about Joan, however, you didn’t take the time to do this. Your mind was focused on the OKR’s and KPI’s – however, a good team leader NEEDS their team to support them in terms of productivity and performance. Without this support, it is all down to you, and that causes heightened anxiety and stress. Learning how to be empathetic in your people management will make you a much better team leader.
Yes
No
Not Sure
5 Probably not, unless it was gross misconduct, most companies have policies that require you to go through a series of disciplinary stages before dismissing someone without warning. If you don’t know what these policies are, then you should ~ find out today!
Yes
No
Not Sure
This game can teach you no more, but we can. Take a look at our ‘Leaders Who Listen’ series of training courses on Floor 2 at JFI Store, as these will help you to refresh your people management and team leadership skills. https://jfistore.com/floor2/
You might also be interested in some shortcuts that will take you into 7 different endings hidden inside this training game.